in South Carolina 7 



says: fi — in the Season good plenty of fowl, as Curleus, 

 Gulls, Gannets, and Pellicans, besides Duck and Mallard, 

 Geese, Swans, Teal, Widgeon, etc." In another place he 

 speaks of "great Flocks of Turkeys" in the adjacent 

 woods. Of the vast number of passenger pigeons, he 

 says: "You might see many millions in a Flock. They 

 sometimes split off the limbs of stout Oaks and other Trees 

 upon which they roost o'Nights." 5 



Catesby in his Natural History (1731) writes: "In the 

 winter season there are great variety of different species 

 of Sea Fowl in numerous flocks feeding promiscuously in 

 open bays and sounds." 6 Eliza Lucas, writing to her 

 brother in England in 1741, speaks of the abundance of 

 wild fowl. 7 A most interesting description of the birds of 

 the province is found in Hewat's account (1779) : "There 

 are also vast numbers of winged fowls found in the 

 country. Besides eagles, falcons, cormorants, gulls, 

 buzzards, hawks, herons, cranes, marsh hens, jays, wood- 

 peckers, there are wild turkeys, pigeons, black birds, 

 wood cocks, little partridges, plovers, curlews and turtle 

 doves in great numbers; also incredible flocks of wild 

 geese, ducks, teal, snipes, mockbird, redbird and humming- 

 bird." 8 



Then another leaf is turned, and in the place of praise 

 for the "great store of fowl" we find expressions of regret 

 for the decrease which begins to be apparent. In a 

 "Statistical Account of Edisto Island" (1809) is found the 

 following statement: "Their range, the crowded settle- 

 ments, and cleared state of the island render it unfavor- 

 able to the pursuit of the hunter." The writer continues: 

 "Similar causes may have operated to drive and scare 

 away those migratory and aquatic birds which at the 



5Lawson's History of Carolina, London, 1718, p. 8. 

 6Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and Bahamas, 

 London, 1731, Vol. 1. 

 7Ravenel, Harriott Horry: Eliza Pinckney, Scribner's, 1886. 

 8Reprinted in Carroll's Historical Collections, p. 80. 



